Harry Potter And The Bite
by Tyler Christopher Durden
Summary: Fenrir Greyback finds Harry when he is four years old and turns him.
1. Chapter 1 - Harry Potter and the Bite

Harry Potter and the Bite

8th December 1984, 10:33 PM

"I don't want The Freak to come!" This was what the youngest Dursley screamed when the Dursleys decided to take "Ickle Duddikins" to see Ghostbusters, which had been released the day before.

"Don't worry Dudders, it won't; we can dump the little brat on Mrs Figgs. Can't we Vernon?" Said the ostrich trying to avert one of Dudley Dursleys patented temper tantrums.

"'Course we can Petunia", replied the obese walrus, also hoping to avoid a tantrum. Vernon Dursley was always going to agree to dumping little Harry Potter onto someone else. Why wouldn't he? It meant he could be free of the boy's freakishness for an evening, and probably also get a wonderfully healthy meal to add several pounds to his already considerable girth. "I'll pop round now to get rid of the little shit".

This is how Harry Potter came to be at Mrs Figgs house on this fateful day that would change his life forever.

Fenrir Greyback was having a good day. He'd found out from a drunken Mundungus Fletcher earlier in the day where the brat that ended the days of being able to slaughter witches, wizards and muggles daily lived. He staked it out thinking Dumbledore would have placed enough protection on the house that not even a fly would be able to touch the little twat. He was expecting to maybe hear where he went to school and attack him whilst he was there. Of course, with the full moon tonight he was expecting to have to wait a while after slaughtering some muggles. It would show Dumbledore that the Boy-Who-Lived could still be found by those of a darker persuasion.

When he saw a lovely meal walk out of Number 4 Priver Drive with a neglected bespectacled child with black scruffy hair and piercing green eyes, Fenrir couldn't believe his luck. Especially when the juicy meal delivered the boy to one of his muggle neighbours; his werewolf heightened sense of hearing allowing him to now that the fat imbecile was leaving him here with an old, defenceless female muggle for at least four hours, probably a bit more.

Having fought against James Potter and Lily Potter, Greyback could see the family resemblance, letting him know that the abused child was Harry James Potter, the Boy-Who-Needed-To-Die-To-Bring-Back-The-Good-Times. It was time to find a way to bring back the good times.

Greyback was anything but stupid. He knew Dumbledore would have some of the Order that were around back in the good ol' day's guarding the Dursley household. He was correct in his assumption; unfortunately for Mr Potter, Mrs Figgs and Mr Fletcher, the Order member hiding in Arabella Figgs' bushes was Mundungus Fletcher. Also unfortunately, he had been drinking firewhiskey all day and his pipe did not currently contain tobacco.

All this was not unfortunate for Mr Greyback, in fact it was the complete opposite. The combination of his pipe and the firewhiskey meant that "Dung" didn't even notice Greyback was approaching him until Greyback's sharpened teeth were biting into his throat. Even then he didn't realise he was in any danger until Greyback tore his windpipe out, thus stopping him from making any noise other than a few quiet gurgles. Mundungus Fletcher then collapsed to the ground, his blood mixing with his spilt firewhiskey as his short, crime-filled life ended.

Greyback felt he rewarded Fletcher for his earlier information by giving him a relatively quick death. He definitely hoped he could make the muggle bitch scream a bit before she died. He didn't want the muggle authorities to interrupt however so he searched Fletcher for a wand so he could set up silencing charms as well as use the cruciatus on her.

He found four wands on Fletchers person, three of them obviously being stolen. Greyback put them all into his shabby robes, after finding out which worked best for him.

A quick _alohomora_ later and a few silencing charms and he was in. He quickly located Potter and the muggle in the living room surrounded by copious amounts of cats. Oh, Merlin how he hated cats. "Excuse me, who are y- oh shi-"

" _CRUCIO_ "

As her pained screams echoed throughout the house he drifted of thinking about how, in the old days he would be doing this with Death Eaters backing him up to defend against the Order. Of course, the Death Eaters would be casting the cruciatus but he still got to rip the body apart and turn the children. There could be no survivors tonight. He was drawn out of his thinking by a pained scream from the muggle bitch.

"YOU WEREWOLF BASTARD!"

The cruciatus stopped immediately. "'Ow the fuck does a muggle know I'm a fuckin' werewolf?!"

"I-I-I-I'm a squ-squ-squib" gasped Mrs Figg shaking from the effects of the Curse.

"Dumbledore set you up 'ere didn't 'e!"

"Y-y-y-yes, t-to protect H-Harry from b-b-bastards like you".

"The change is soon" proclaimed Greyback. "'Ow does it feel to fail tha' little shit?"

"Kill me or I swear to Merlin, I'll remove your ugly, fucking head!"

" _Crucio_ "

Greyback held the cruciatus until the change took hold, forcing him to drop the wand in spasms of pain. "Harry, go to the kitchen and get me a knife and the keys with the silver cat key ring". Harry did so and gave Mrs Figg both a kitchen knife and the keys she requested. She squeezed the key ring twice. "We'll be ok now Harry".

 **Meanwhile, in the Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts**

"Minerva, I know you and Severus disagree in punishments, but Severus is their Head of House, so punishment falls to him".

"I know that Albus, but they don't seem to be getting punished for Cursing poor Charlie of his broom, Gryffindor really can't afford to train a new Seeker and Molly is absolutely fumi-"

Professor McGonagall stopped talking at that point due to the excessive noise produced by an instrument resembling a cat on one of the many bookshelves around the edge of the room. Albus Dumbledore looked at it in shock and sadness.

"Albus, what is that?" Enquired Snape.

"It is a signal from Arabella Figg. She is being attacked by a magic user." Another alarm went off on the shelf. "We must go to Arabella's house immediately! Harry Potter is being attacked. _Portus_." Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Filius Flitwick and Pomona Sprout all touched the quill that was now a portkey and disappeared.

Harry Potter knew he was having a nightmare. He also knew he was going to be beaten in the morning for waking everyone up with his screams of terror. Right now, he didn't care. He had just watched this man point a stick at Mrs Figg to make her scream in pain before then turning into a big wolf and tearing her apart. She managed to stab the kitchen knife into the wolfs shoulder before dying, but that didn't seem to be very effective. As the enraged wolf glared at him, Harry thought "This is it. I am about to die. At least Dudley didn't beat me to death."

Then the wolf attacked.

Harry managed to lift his right arm up before the wolf was upon him, jaws tearing into his arm. Strangely though, his arm wasn't the most painful part if him. It was his scar.

As the wolf shook him about, black ichor sprayed from his distinctive lightning bolt scar.

It was to this scene the professors arrived to. Looking in the window of Mrs Figgs house they could see a large wolf shaking a small child. The professors watched in horror as the werewolf released its grip, throwing Harry through the window to land broken and battered with his skin cut to ribbons by the broken glass.

The werewolf stared at the professors before launching itself through the smashed window to attack the professors.

" _Avada_ _kedavra_." The green light flashed illuminating the entirety of the grisly scene, before impacting with the midair werewolf. The naked corpse of Fenrir Greyback fell to the ground.

McGonagall, Dumbledore, Flitwick and Sprout all stared in shock and horror at Snape, the one who cast the Curse. "Oh I'm sorry did you want to be mauled to death by a Dark Creature."

"Pomona take Mr Potter to Poppy, Severus stay here, you'll have to make a statement, Minerva, Filius, stay here, you are both very respected, that should help deal with the incompetents from the ministry. _Portus_." With that, Dumbledore gave Sprout the portkey made from a silver cat ornament that used to be on Mrs Figgs windowsill.

A/N I'm actually quite pleased with this chapter, hence why it hasn't changed much. The only things I did change were some grammatical errors and the film the Dursley's go to see. When Gremlins was first released in the UK, it was rated 15. For Americans that's PG-13 or R, depending on how violent/sexual/profane the movie is. Also, I recently got a new phone and forgot to transfer my notes over. Which means I've lost all of my notes for my stories, so it will probably take me a while before I upload again. And does anyone know how to delete stories? Because I couldn't figure it out for the original HPATB. To avoid being sued I have to mention that I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I own most of the characters in this story. I cannot afford to be sued which should tell you that I am not J K Rowling.


	2. Chapter 2 - A Wolf On Sheep Lane

A/N I own none of the characters in this chapter. Nor will I own any of the characters in the rest of the story. Nor do I own any properties mentioned.

Chapter Two: A Wolf On Sheep Lane

 **9th December 1984, 9:27 AM, 5 Sheep Lane, Wrexham, Wales, United Kingdom**

Remus John Lupin was tired. He'd spent the entirety of last night awake in a 5x5 concrete room with a five inches thick solid iron door. In three minutes, the charm keeping the door shut would break and Remus would head to the kitchen to get the bottle of Ogden's Finest out of the cupboard. He'd go back to work on Monday. Thank Merlin the Full Moon had fallen on a Saturday and he wasn't working anyway. The charm broke and the door creaked slowly open.

Remus staggered to the kitchen and made his way carefully to the cupboard, where he pulled out the bottle of Ogden's Finest. He collected a glass for himself and poured himself a full glass. There's no point in starting to drink at half nine in the morning unless you're getting absolutely shitfaced. Or at least that's what James and The Traitor said on the morning of James' stag do. Many jokes were made about the whole stag thing. Of course, most of the people who went didn't get them. Happier times.

Remus picked the glass up and drank it all down. The warm amber liquid burned his throat, but it would help with the pain of the transformation. He walked to the door to get the post before realising it was Sunday. He drank some more Firewhiskey before walking into the living room and turning the tv on. All he needed to do today was relax.

 **9th December 1984, 3:38 PM, 5 Sheep Lane, Wrexham, Wales, United Kingdom**

Which he did. For a while. However, a knock at the door disrupted his lovely afternoon of drinking and watching tv. Remus snarled and struggled out of his chair. He stumbled his way to the door, holding onto the wall for balance. He opened the door and was surprised to see his old Headmaster standing before him. "Hello, Remus. You're a hard man to find."

"Dumbledore. Haa've ya bin?" Dumbldore held out a glass bottle.

"Drink this." Remus tried to slur out a response before taking the bottle and downing it. Immediately he began running to the bathroom. Dumbledore followed at a leisurely pace, the door closing behind him.

Remus began vomiting down the toilet for several minutes. After he was done, he glared at Dumbledore, who had followed him into the bathroom. "I trust you had a good reason for that, Albus."

Dumbledore's face took on a sad look. "I did. I knew that you would likely drink to recover from last night and I can't have you meeting Mr Potter whilst you can barely stand."

Remus practically apparated to his feet, the alcohol having been purged from his system. "What do you mean? How come I get to meet him now and not when I spent over a year owling you to ask to meet him?"

Dumbledore sighed. "I am afraid I failed. I entrusted the wrong person to keep watch over young Harry." Dumbledore paused and looked Remus in the eye. "It brings me great sorrow to tell you that Fenrir Greyback has managed to pass his curse onto young Harry." Remus' eyes glowed yellow.

"I'm going to tear that fuckers throat out." He made his move to travel to the Lake District, where he knew the wild packs ruled by Greyback lived, when he found he was frozen to the spot. "Albus, let me go!"

"You do not need to kill Fenrir. Severus killed him last night, by use of the Killing Curse." Dumbledore's face was clearly saddened by the method Snape had used.

Remus smirked evilly. "Remind me to buy Snape a bottle of Ogden's. Don't feel bad for Greyback. He deserved much worse than the Killing Curse."

"The loss of a life should always be a terrible thing. No matter who the person was or what they've done." Remus shrugged.

"I'm still going to get Snape a bottle of Ogden's Finest." Dumbledore sighed.

"If you insist, though I will say that Severus is rather partial to a Muggle alcohol made by a fellow called Jack Daniel. I believe it's the type of alcohol that Muggles made to try to replicate our Firewhiskey." Remus nodded.

"Yeah, I know what you're talking about. Does he prefer the honeyed type?" Dumbledore nodded. "I'll just pop to the shops really quick, then you can take me to see Harry." Two quiet pops and 20 later, Remus was grabbing hold of Dumbledore's arm.

They appeared silently in front of the Hogwarts gates. A brisk walk took them passed a Ravenclaw Quidditch practice to the front doors of the school. They got quite a few funny looks from the students on the way to the hospital wing.

They arrived at the hospital wing and entered. Remus saw a curtained off area towards the end of the room. "Oi, oi. You wanna share that wiv us, pot and pan?" Remus turned towards the voice and saw three children. One was a ginger haired boy lying in a hospital bed and another was a girl with bubblegum pink hair. The third was an older boy who looked to be the brother of the one in the bed. The girl was the one who spoke.

Remus smiled. "Sorry, Nymphadora, but this is a gift for Professor Snape." The girls hair flushed a bright red.

"Don't call me Nymphadora! And how did ya know me name?"

Remus scowled. "I was friends with Sirius before he betrayed us. He described you to our friends and I. I knew you were going to hate your name from the second I heard it."

Nymphadora scowled. "Yeah, I can't believe Sirius did that. He was always so sugar and spice from what I remember. Anyway, call me Tonks and give us that bottle of River Ouse, Snape-y boy don't deserve it."

"Might I remind you that I am still here?" The three children and one werewolf looked at Dumbledore, who's eyes were twinkling with amusement.

"Dumbledore, you go on ahead, I want to talk to these guys for a little more. And don't worry, I'm not the kind of guy to give underaged wizards alcohol." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled even more.

"Need I remind you of the time you replaced all of the water in Hogwarts with vodka?" The children's eyes lit up with hope that they'd actually get some alcohol from this obvious rule breaker.

"You know as well as I do, that was mostly James and Sirius' idea." Dumbledore nodded and walked to the curtained off area at the end of the room.

"So," Remus looked back at Tonks. "When he says 'all of the water in Hogwarts'?"

Remus smiled. "He means all of it. The merpeople were rather annoyed at that. I remember James was quite annoyed that Madam Pomfrey didn't let him get a really sexy scar. His words, not mine." All four of them chuckled. "But that's not why I wanted to talk to you. I just thought you might be interested in knowing of a way to piss Snape off." The children perked up. "I happen to know that he hates being called 'Snivellus.' If anyone asks, you heard one of the seventh years talking about the Marauders."

Having passed on what he wanted to, Remus continued on to meet Harry. As soon as he passed the curtains he was greeted with the sight of Harry. He froze up at the sight of those green eyes he knew so well. "I see you finally decided to grace us with your presence, Lupin." Remus sighed and turned to the source of the icy voice.

"Hello Snape." He offered the bottle of Jack Daniels. "I'd like to thank you for ridding the world of Greyback."

Snape took the bottle from Remus. "I assume the Headmaster told you I liked this?"

"Naturally. I'm not going to pretend that I liked you enough to know what your tastes are." Snape nodded.

"Well, thank you for this and believe me, it was not exactly a hardship to put that animal down. Now, if you will all excuse me, I'm going to place this in my private chambers. Goodbye."

He swept through the curtain, obviously wishing to spend as little time around Remus as possible. "Hey, you alright, Snivellus?" A loud smashing noise followed Tonks' shout.

"LUPIN!" Madam Pomfrey quickly left the curtained off area and began berating Snape for making a mess in her hospital wing.

"Remus, was that really necessary?"

Remus turned to Dumbledore. "No, but it was fun. Plus, if I hadn't taken that opportunity, then James would've killed me from beyond the grave."

Dumbledore frowned at the long-standing enmity between the two men. "Remus, I'd like you to meet Harry Potter."

Remus looked down at the bed, smiling at the son of two of his closest friends. He conjured a chair to sit down and speak with him. "Hello, Harry. You probably don't remember me, but I was a friend of your parents."

"Moony!" Harry smiled. "I thought I'd imagined you. The Dursley's wouldn't have liked that." Remus froze.

"Dumbledore. Please tell me you did not place Harry with the Dursley's."

"It was sadly for the best. To charge the blood wards surrounding their home." Remus glared at Dumbledore, causing the elderly man to wince.

"Oh, really?" Snarled Remus. "Then tell me, how did Greyback manage to get passed these wards?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Harry's guardians decided they wanted to watch a movie and didn't want to bring Harry with them. So they took Harry to Arabella's house, which is just outside the wards. Tragically, Arabella didn't survive."

Remus' face softened. "Albus, you believed that Petunia would treat Harry like her own family. It isn't your fault she's a complete bitch who doesn't care about anyone magical. And it's a good thing Arabella died in the attack. She didn't have any magic. The Change kills those without magic in an excruciating way. Better that she dies from blood loss than that."

"Language!" Remus jumped. He hadn't even noticed McGonagall standing in the corner. Though he supposed it was obvious she'd be there. "Though I agree with the sentiment, Mr Lupin, there is a child present."

Remus nodded to her. "Fair enough, Professor." He looked back at Harry and saw an expression of fear on his face. "What's the matter, Prongslet?"

"I'm going to die." Remus frowned. He couldn't see the others, but assumed they were doing the same.

"What do you mean?"

"You said that the bite kills people who don't have magic. I'm not magic. I'm just Harry."

"Harry, look at me. You are not 'just Harry'. You are Harry James Potter, the son of two of the people who meant most to me. Both of your parents were powerful magic users. I have no doubt that you will have magic. I have failed you up until now because I felt bad about your parents deaths. I promise you this: I will never fail you again." Remus swept Harry up in a loving hug. Harry froze up at the contact. Unseen by Harry, Remus scowled. 'Damned Dursley's.'

 **10th December 1984, 7:30 PM, Head Office, Gholuva Imports, London, United Kingdom**

"Well, Remus, I am intrigued. You've never taken me up on my job offers before, what's changed?"

"I'm no longer responsible for just me. I'm now looking after James and Lily's son. I can't afford to do that if I'm getting a new shitty job every couple of months."

Ramrao Patil was no fool. He knew there was something his friend wasn't telling him. Time to make an educated guess. "Greyback's attack was successful, wasn't it?" Remus' eyes widened in shock.

"How did you know that?"

"The death of Greyback made the news, as well as why he made his attack. It was reported that his attack failed, but the only reason I can see for you being given custody, is that young Harry will need help dealing with the transformation." Ramrao made a decision. "My Head of Records is thinking about retiring soon. I will give you a job under him and, if he decides your work is good enough, you will take over as the new Head. During the day, young Harry can be looked after by my wife."

Remus looked up at his friend. "What about the others in your Records Office? Won't they resent me coming in and taking a potential promotion away?"

Ramrao scoffed. "The only people who work in Records are either new Hogwarts graduates who want a bit of money to travel the world, or want to work in different departments that need some experience within the company. No one goes to the Records Office for a career."

Remus smiled. "Thank you, Ramrao. When do I start?"

"That all depends on how quickly you can leave your current job."

 **30th July 1984, 11:34 AM, 5 Sheep Lane, Wrexham, Wales, United Kingdom**

Harry was happy. It had taken him about a week to get over his fear of retribution from Dudley, but then he became fast friends with Padma and Parvati. Sure, there had been a bit of awkwardness early on when he repeated something he'd heard his Uncle Vernon say about people that look like the Patil's, but other than that, things were going great. And he now knew that "Paki" wasn't something he should say.

But today was his second birthday party. His first had been when his parents were still alive, so he couldn't remember it. He was nervous. He didn't want anyone to make a big fuss. Plus, tomorrow night was a full moon. Harry hated full moons. The change was so painful. He just wanted this week to end.

"Come on, Prongslet, we're going to be late." Harry quickly finished brushing his teeth and ran downstairs. Uncle Moony was standing in front of the fireplace. Harry quickly took the floo powder from him and threw it into the fireplace.

"12 Hollywood Drive!" A flash of green flames saw Harry arrive in Birmingham.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HARRY," screamed the voices of two excited twins. Harry got a brief look at Parvati's face before she tackled him to the ground in a hug. "IhopeyoulikeyourpresentsHarry, wechosethemjustforyou. IpickedthedragonandPadmapickedthe- oops. I wasn't supposed to tell you what we got you."

"Not even here for a minute and he's already got a pretty, young witches arms around him. His father would be so proud."

"Easy there, Remus. That's my daughter you're talking about." Both wizards were beaming at the display of childhood affection.

Parvati finally let go of Harry and let him get back to his feet. "Hi, Parvati! Hi, Padma! Hello, Mr and Mrs Patil! Thanks for letting me have my birthday party here." Remus hid his frown. Harry may have gotten out of his shell a bit, but he still felt like a burden. It was a miracle he wasn't apologising for the bother.

Smita smiled. "It's our pleasure, Harry! Now, why don't you open your presents?" Harry beamed widely before rushing over to the presents, Padma and Parvati close behind. He absolutely adored the little green dragon toy Parvati had given him and gave her just as big a hug as she'd given him just moments before. Remus made sure to keep a mental note to keep Padma's gift of a massive bar of Honeyduke's chocolate to the side for after the full moon.

After opening Remus' present for him, Harry immediately hugged the stag cuddly animal to his chest, alongside the dragon.

Harry surprised all of the adults by giving Ramrao a short hug after seeing the photo of Ramrao and Harry's father. One of the three photos of Ramrao and James that was appropriate for the eyes of a child. He never gave any men hugs and he'd only hugged Smita once before. After seeing the photo Smita had wrapped for him, he gave her another hug. It was nice to see a photo of his mother and her friends, one of whom was Smita. Most of the photos Remus had of Harry's parents weren't on display because the Traitor was in them. This was the best birthday he'd ever had. It was also the only one he could remember.

 **1st August 1991, 10:16 AM, 5 Sheep Lane, Wrexham, Wales, United Kingdom**

"There! All done!" Parvati held up a hand mirror, so Harry could admire her handiwork. Any other eleven year old boy would never in a million years let a girl get near him with makeup, but Harry just smiled.

"It's wonderful, thanks!" She'd managed to perfectly cover his scar. Remus and Ramrao had managed to prevent the wizarding world in general from ever seeing him, so anyone wanting to thank him for not dying would be relying on his scar and classic Potter hair to identify him. Remus had got him a tub of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion for his birthday, so for the first time in his life; Harry didn't have a birds nest on his head.

"You ready yet, Prongslet?" Remus poked his head through the door. He looked at Harry and grinned. "You know, your father always refused to wear Sleekeazy's. He preferred his natural mop. It's nice to see what he would've looked like wearing it. Well, with the exception of your eye colour. Anyway, we should get going." Harry, Parvati and Padma, who had been reading a book, followed Remus down to the living room.

Ramrao smiled at the kids. "I'll go first." He walked up to the fire place and took a handful of Floo Powder out of a Quality Streets tin. "The Leaky Cauldron." Ramrao disappeared into the green flames, closely followed by the kids, Smita and Remus.

The first stop was Ollivander's, to get a wand for Harry. Padma and Parvati already had wands, thanks to their family's tradition of keeping wands after the deaths of their owners and presenting them to be used by their descendants. Parvati inherited her great great grandmothers wand, made of larch wood with an Occamy scale core. Padma was Chosen by her great great granduncle's wand made from elm, with a Core made from the Heartstring of a Chinese Fireball that had strayed across what was now known as the McMahon Line and attacked a village nearby to the Patil's land. Padma and Parvati's great great great great grandfather had gone to the aid of the village and killed the dragon and claimed its corpse.

Ollivander's shop was creepy. There was no other way to put it. It looked more like an abandoned house in a horror movie than a busy wand shop that sold wands to the entirety of wizarding Britain. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust and the owner was nowhere to be seen.

"Um... hello?" Harry looked around. "Mr Ollivander?"

"Ah," Harry, Padma and Parvati jumped slightly. They hadn't seen the elderly wand maker enter the room. "Mr Potter. I was wondering when you'd come for a wand. I wonder if you'll be more like your mother, or your father..."

The aged wandmaker disappeared into his shop momentarily, before returning with a wand. "How about you give this one a try?" Harry took it and gave it a wave, setting the counter on fire. After a quick swish of his wand, Ollivander took the wand back. "Perhaps not." He went to pick another wand, which also didn't work properly, this time smashing the window of the shop. The trend continued for another seven wands before Ollivander came back with another wand.

Harry grasped the wand in his hand and immediately knew. This was the wand for him. Ollivander looked curiously at Harry as he charged him for the wand, but said nothing, other than telling him what his wand was made of.

Authors note: I'm sorry this took me so long to write. I'm going to try to get better at it, but I have literally procrastinated at breathing before, so I can't promise anything. Another thing, I no longer have access to the email I used to set up this account, so I don't get notified if you leave reviews, so if I don't get back to you on something you mention in one, I'm sorry, but that's why.


	3. Chapter 3 - An Unlikely Alliance

A/N I said I was going to try to stop procrastinating so much. I don't own the rights to Harry Potter, though I wish I did.

Chapter three: An Unlikely Alliance

1st September 1991, 10:38 AM, King's Cross Station, London, England, United Kingdom

"Well, looks like this is goodbye, Prongslet. Until Christmas at least." The Marauder neglected to mention that he would meet Harry in the Shrieking Shack on the next full moon. They both knew that and didn't want anyone to overhear anything that could suggest he was a werewolf. They both knew that they were taking a big enough risk with saying goodbye at King's Cross, what if someone saw them together? Even with taking the precaution of staying on the Muggle side, it was risky. Harry gave his adoptive father one last hug, before disappearing through the barrier to meet up with the twins.

"Harry!" He has barely turned towards the voice, before he was engulfed in a hug by his very exuberant friend.

"Hi, Parvati." He looked over her head at her twin. "Hey, Padma. Can you get your sister to stop hugging me, so we can get on the train?" At hearing what Harry had said, Parvati stopped hugging him and punched him in the arm.

"Jerk." Harry greeted Ramrao and Smita happily before the children had to get on the express. They opened the door to the first compartment they could find and saw there was already someone inside. "Hey, can we join you in your compartment?" The nervous looking wizard in the compartment looked at them and stuttered out a positive reply. Harry moved their trunks to the overhead compartment, before the trio sat down. "My name's Parvati, this is my sister Padma and this is our friend, Harry. What's your name? Are you looking forward to Hogwarts?"

The wizard was clearly not used to people like Parvati. "M-my name's N-Neville. I-I guess I'm looking f-forward to Hogwarts, but I'm going to be t-terrible at everything." Harry asked Neville why that was. "B-because I'm a b-borderline squib. I b-barely even had any accidental magic! I can only r-remember one time I did any and that w-was the time Uncle Algie dropped me out of a w-window." The other three looked at each other in concern, but before they could say anything, the train started to move.

"So, Neville. You don't think dropping you out of a window was a bit excessive?" Neville asked what Harry meant. "Well, if you hadn't had magic you could've been seriously hurt."

"Yeah, I suppose so, but G-Gran was so happy that I had magic. She bought me some flitterbloom seeds. Flitterbloom is a really nice plant that looks a bit like Devil's Snare, but it's completely harmless. They're quite old now, so they'll probably die soon, but I asked Mipsol to look after them while I'm at Hogwarts. Hopefully they'll still be alive when I go back at Christmas."

"Neville? Your family was ok with you being dropped out of a window?" Neville turned to answer Padma.

"W-well, my G-Gran was furious about it. She told Uncle Algie to leave the house. That was the only t-time I ever heard her cuss. It was after he l-left that she realised what it meant and got h-happy I was a wizard."

Before anything else could be said, the door opened. "I heard Harry Potter was in this compartment." Harry turned and looked at the blond who'd just entered. "So, it's true." He looked around the compartment, seemingly judging the company Harry kept. "I was going to offer my help to prevent you from falling in with the wrong sort of wizarding families, but I see that isn't needed." He began to say something else, but was interrupted by one of his bookends.

"What d'you mean 'that isn't needed'? Of course, it's needed. He's going around with curry munchers and a squib." The blond glared at the interrupting boy.

"The Patil's are an old and respected Pureblood family and surely you can tell that Longbottom isn't a squib? He is on the way to Hogwarts after all. I know you're an idiot, Goyle, but you can't be stupid enough to think a squib could come to Hogwarts." The third boy spoke up then, with a surprisingly soft voice.

"But Draco, the Patil's are foreigners! They're not welcome here. And you've heard what Algernon Longbottom's said about his great nephew's magical abilities. I don't want to be around a squib and foreigners and I'm sure Greg agrees." The blond, apparently called Draco, responded in a way the rest of the carriage didn't expect.

"The Malfoy's are foreigners, Crabbe. Or have you forgotten we're French? Where they're from doesn't matter, what matters is: do they have pure blood? The answer is: probably purer than yours."

"You take that back, frog!" Apparently the reminder of Draco's ancestry was enough to turn Crabbe's xenophobia onto him.

"Oh, come on, Crabbe. We both know your uncle was more than happy to indulge in muggle's during the war. At least Goyle's family limited their lust to Mudbloods and Blood Traitors." Crabbe looked like he was about to throw a punch at Draco, when Goyle put a hand on his shoulder.

"Let's go, Vince. I certainly don't want to stay in here." He glanced at Padma and Parvati. "Smells too spicy." Crabbe glared at Draco, before he and Goyle left.

Draco sighed. "Sorry about that. Now, where was I? Ah, yes." He held his hand out to Harry. "My name's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." Harry shook Draco's hand.

"Nice to meet you, Draco. I'm a bit curious as to why you want to be my friend, though. From everything I've heard of your family, you should hate me for ending Voldemort's reign of terror." Everyone that wasn't Harry flinched at the name of the Darkest wizard since Grindelwald.

Draco sat down next to Neville, who shifted slightly in his seat. "Well, there is the theory some families believe about the Dark Lord failing to kill you because you're an even more powerful Dark Wizard who will achieve the Dark Lord's aims with less losses to our ranks. That's why father wants me to befriend you. Well, that and you're a very politically powerful individual who it would be a good idea to become close to. Me personally. I don't think you're a Dark Wizard. Dark Wizards and Longbottom's have never gotten along historically. Neither have the Potter's really, except for Seth Potter, but the rest of the Potter's have always fought against any Dark Wizards of the time. My reason for attempting to befriend you is that you'd likely be a good person to be friends with. And because Father wants me to."

Harry considered it. He and Remus had known that some Dark families would try to align themselves with Harry. Though they'd thought it would be to deflect suspicion that they were Death Eaters. He knew that Draco didn't share his beliefs on the value of blood purity, but they could just not talk about it. Plus there was the possibility that Draco could develop opinions that were more palatable to Harry. "Ok, Draco. But you can't say Mudblood around me. I absolutely detest that word."

Draco smirked. "Of course. I'll even do you one better and not talk about blood purity at all, without first being asked about it. Exploding snap?" Harry and the twins quickly agreed to a game of the popular card game. Neville agreed as well, though less eagerly than the others. After a few rounds, Parvati decided to ask a question that had been on her mind since Crabbe and Goyle left.

"Draco? How come you defended me and Padma? Don't get me wrong, I appreciate it, it's just, I'd have thought you'd have agreed with Crabbe and Goyle?" Draco scowled slightly.

"The Malfoy's have always held that we are superior to others. But when we first made the journey to Britain, we were faced with hostility and derision. Just because we were French. There are still some families that look down on us for that, like the Black's. Although the Black's do agree with us on many things and do marry in sometimes, like Mother. It was people like my great Aunt who weren't happy about Mother's marriage. My great Aunt looks down on the Malfoy's for being 'foreign blood'. Even though the Malfoy's have been in Britain since 1066. When I brought up my ancestry I didn't think they'd react like that. After all, the Goyle's didn't arrive in Britain until the 1200's and the Crabbe's arrived after the Black Death. Even the French Malfoy's have more right to claim to be British than they do. They only moved back to France in 1786. But that's why I defended you. Because the Malfoy's have never been xenophobic. As long as your blood's pure, the Malfoy's support you." Draco then seemed to realise he'd been talking for quite a while. "Sorry, I just hate people acting superior to me." The others let him know it was ok and that they understood.

They soon lost themselves in another game of exploding snap, until Neville noticed something. "Where's Trevor?" They all looked at Neville and asked who Trevor was. "My pet toad. My Uncle Algie bought him for me when I got my Hogwart's letter. Can any of you see him?" The other four in the compartment looked around before confirming that the toad wasn't in sight. "Can you help me look for him? My gran will be angry at me if I lose him on my first day at Hogwarts." They all nodded, Draco a bit reluctantly.

They got up and started asking the people in the nearby compartments. No one had seen anything in the first four compartments they checked. In the fifth one, they realised that they knew the people within. Unfortunately, they'd already asked them if they'd seen a toad. "No, but I assure you, we'll let you know if we do."

Goyle snickered at the group of five. "Yeah, we'll use it for bludger practice. You'll hear the splat!"

"I am glad you came in here, though." The one member of the compartment that they didn't know stood up. "I wanted to personally register my disappointment and disgust at Draco soiling the proud Malfoy name."

Parvati looked the newcomer up and down before asking him the question on all of their minds. "And you are?"

The boy gave Parvati a look of disgust. "Mauricius Macnair. Heir to the Noble House of Macnair. And you should know better than to talk to your superiors like that." Draco scoffed.

"Please, like killing animals for the Ministry is a 'Noble' calling. The Patil's have a very successful importing business in Britain, if anything, Macnair, they're your superiors." Macnair scowled.

"Shut it, Malfoy. You're a disgrace to both your name and you status. Why don't you go back to the toad search? That is, if no one's stepped on it yet." Macnair smirked evilly at the thought of a toad being crushed by a careless or malicious student. Neville glared at Macnair, before they left to search the rest of the train. Three compartments later, they came across some older boys wearing yellow trimmed robes.

"Excuse me, but have you seen a toad anywhere?" Parvati was the one to speak, as always.

One of the boys, who was wearing a badge that said Headboy, smiled reassuringly at them. "We haven't, why? Is it your pet?"

Parvati shook her head. "Not mine, Neville's." She gestured to the boy in question.

The boy turned to Neville. "Hi, can you tell me the name of your toad?" After Neville told him, the boy pulled it his wand. "Watch this. Accio Trevor the toad." Nothing seemed to happen for a few seconds, and then they heard a girl scream a bit further down the train. A few seconds after that, a toad flew into the boy's hand. "I assume this is Trevor?" Neville nodded and thanked him profusely. "My name is Gabriel Truman. I hope I'll see some of you in Hufflepuff. Enjoy the rest of your journey."

With Trevor found, they headed back to their compartment. They spent the rest of the journey playing exploding snap and chatting. Eventually, they arrived at Hogsmeade Station. They followed Hagrid to the boats and Draco volunteered to take a different boat with some people he suspected would be in Slytherin with him. Halfway across the lake, Neville shrieked in terror. "Nev! What's wrong?"

A white faced Neville turned to Harry. "I-I-I saw s-something in the w-water! It was a t-tentacle or s-something. D-do you think it r-realises we're h-h-here? What if it's h-h-hungry? W-will it attack us? Will it k-kill us? W-will it eat us? I-I don't want t-to die!" Harry smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry, Nev. It's just the Giant Squid." Neville's eyes bulged. He didn't seem to think that a giant squid was something to describe with the word "just". Harry decided to explain further. "It doesn't eat people. It eats fish. It only attacks people who want to harm Hogwarts and the inhabitants of Hogwarts. We'll be fine." Neville didn't look too convinced, but relaxed a little bit.

A short while later, Hagrid had left them with Professor McGonagall. Draco came back over and joined the others, much to the apparent dislike of a ginger boy who scowled at Draco. Luckily, none of the group noticed.

Abbott, Hannah."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Bones, Susan."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Boot, Terrence."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Brocklehurst, Amanda."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Brown, Lavender."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Bulstrode, Millicent."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Corner, Michael."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Cornfoot, Stephen."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Crabbe, Vincent." The bulky pureblood strode arrogantly to the stool and waited for the Hat to be placed on his head. Seconds after it touched his hair, he was placed into the house of snakes.

"Davis, Tracy."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Entwhistle, Kevin."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Finnigan, Seamus."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Goldstein, Anthony."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Goyle, Gregory." The second of the xenophobic purebloods walked proudly to the Hat and quickly joined the first in Slytherin.

"Granger, Hermione."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Greengrass, Daphne."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Hopkins, Wayne."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Jones, Megan."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Li, Sue."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Longbottom, Neville." Neville flinched at his name and made his way nervously to the stool. The Hat was on his head for several minutes before finally Sorting him into Gryffindor. He took several steps towards the Gryffindor table before realising the Hat was still on his head and giving the Hat back.

"MacDougal, Morag."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Macmillan, Ernest."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Macnair, Mauricius." Macnair sneered his way to the stool and got Sorted into Slytherin as soon as the Hat touched his head.

"Malfoy, Draco." This was greeted with several boos as he swaggered up to the Sorting Hat. Draco did a good job of hiding his annoyance at being hated. The Hat put him in Slytherin almost before it touched his head.

"Malone, Roger."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Moon, Lily."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Nott, Theodore."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Parkinson, Pansy."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Patil, Padma." The quieter twin walked up to the Hat.

"RAVENCLAW!" Harry's heart sank. Remus told him that the Hat Sorted him into Gryffindor because of his bravery in facing the Transformation. He had desperately hoped the twins would be Sorted into Gryffindor because he didn't want to be separated. At least he'd have Neville.

"Patil, Parvati."

"GRYFFINDOR!" Harry and the twins were surprised. Sure, the twins weren't the same person, but they'd assumed they'd be in the same House. Siblings usually are. Harry felt bad about the brief happiness he felt at his friends being split up. Well, not because they were split up, but because he'd have another friend in his House.

"Perks, Sally-Anne."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Potter, Harry."

"Another werewolf? I haven't had to sort one of you since '83. The only other werewolf I've had to Sort was your adoptive father. Like both of them, the bravery of having to face the Transformation means I cannot place you anywhere but GRYFFINDOR!"

Two ginger twins got up on the table and sung a short song about Gryffindor getting Harry Potter. Five minutes passed, before McGonagall was able to continue. "Rivers, Oliver."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Roper, Sophie."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Runcorn, Terrance."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Smith, Sally."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Smith, Zacharias."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Thomas, Dean."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Turpin, Lisa."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Weasley, Ronald." The ginger boy who'd scowled at Draco earlier walked up to the stool.

"GRYFFINDOR!" Weasley got up and smirked, shooting a snide glance at Draco. He walked to the Gryffindor table.

"Zabini, Blaise."

"SLYTHERIN!"

Dumbledore stood up. Harry say up more, waiting to hear the wizard who allowed him and his adoptive father to learn what most would deny him. "Welcome to Hogwarts. And to those of us returning, welcome back. I'm sure those of you third year and above will remember Professor Quirrell." He gestured to a nervous looking man who flinched when the students looked at him. He rose and bowed his turban-clothed head. "Professor Quirrell has returned from his sabbatical and, instead of retaking his Muggle Studies job, will become the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. And now, let us feast!" A wide array of food appeared before everyone. Harry was pleased to note the rare meat in front of him. He moved an especially bloody steak onto his plate and dug in. He ignored the slightly queasy look on an older red headed boy with a badge. He spoke to Parvati and Neville throughout the feast. "I've got to be honest, I thought you and Padma would be in the same house."

Parvati sighed. "So did I. Don't get me wrong, I understand why she's in Ravenclaw, but I'd have thought we'd be in the same House. It's going to be hard being away from her for so long."

Neville decided to comfort his newfound friend. "Then we'll just h-have to spend as much time with her outside of class as possible." Parvati gave Neville a grateful smile.

"Thanks, Nev." The feast came to an end not long after this, with Harry not having much for dessert. Lycanthropy doesn't give you much of a sweet tooth.

Dumbledore stood up for the second time that night. "Now that we are all fed, I have some notices to say. Once again, I have been asked by Mr Filch to remind you of the many banned items. The full list can be found on his door. I believe it contains 325 items now. The Forbidden Forest is exactly that. Forbidden. I would ask you all to refrain from entering the forest." His eyes twinkled at a pair of redheaded twins boefore moving to Harry. He obviously expected Remus to pass on some knowledge about the Marauder's. Which he had, but Harry had no desire to go into the Forest or prank anyone. Except for Macnair and his goons. He had an instant dislike of them. "I would also like to impress upon you all that the third floor corridor is out of bounds to all who do not wish to die a most painful death."

Harry knew that Dumbledore was quite eccentric, but he also knew that Dumbledore wouldn't make a joke like that and would always give a reason not to go somewhere. And now Harry had a reason to use his Marauder heritage. He would be in the third floor corridor before the week was out.

Dumbledore spoke again. "Now then, let us sing the Hogwarts song." He waved his wand and words sprang into existence above his head. "Any tune you like, please." Harry decided to sing to the tune of Thin Lizzy's The Boys Are Back In Town. Neville didn't appear to have a specific tune that he sung to, whilst Parvati sang to a tune Harry vaguely remembered hearing at their house at some point. After the infamous junior Marauder's known as Fred and George Weasley had finished their slow funeral march, Dumbledore wiped a tear from his eye. "Ah, music. Such a great form of magic. Goodnight."


End file.
